White Lies
by Jade121
Summary: AU: Tess meets Tess? A heart to heart talk that sets things into motion. Set in 'Max in the City'. This story is an adaptation of another story. Please read and review!


_DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Melinda Metz, various publishers and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended._

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AN: This story is an adaptation of another story called 'Little White Lies' by quickdraw.

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"**White Lies"**

Tess Harding awoke spitting dirt out of her mouth. As she lifted her head from the ground she discovered that she was in some kind of forest clearing. It looked far too friendly to be anywhere near New York City. The day was not unpleasant. The sun was shining, though there was a slight chill in the air. It appeared to be late afternoon. She wondered if she was anywhere near the summit. She got to her feet and brushed the dirt and leaves from her hair and her sweater.

She struggled to remember what she had been doing before she blacked out. Then she felt the throbbing in her head and her hands. '_Rath!_ _Lonnie! Oh God! Max! Stupid Rath! I pushed him away only to have Nicholas use his powers to shove me to the floor! But how did I get here?'_

'_Where the hell am I?'_

"In the future," said a woman's voice from behind her. Startled, Tess spun around.

Standing just at the edge of the clearing was a tall woman with light blonde hair nearly the same color as her own only much longer. She appeared to be in her twenties. She was a little lanky, but not unattractive, dressed rather plainly in a gray top and worn blue jeans. In some ways the woman's face reminded Tess of her, yet the marks resembled someone who went through hell. '_Could it possibly be? Wouldn't' Maxwell have healed them?'_

"I am you," the woman replied to her unspoken question. "I am Tess Harding."

"The summit?"

"No, from what was left of the Granilith… it malfunctioned and sent you five years into the future."

"Five years…" Tess repeated in disbelief. "I have to get back!"

The woman held up her hand in a calming gesture. "I have the tools to fix it so that the

Granilith will send you back to the exact moment from which you left… but there are some things I need to tell you before you go."

"Is that a good idea?" Tess eyed the woman warily. "Wouldn't it be dangerous for me to know anything about the future?"

"Well, I'm going to at least need to know what day and time it is so I can be here to send you back."

Tess nodded. "That makes sense."

"It's the 10th of November, 2001," she checked her wristwatch, "and it's just going on six thirty-seven."

"Got it." Then she realized they'd forgotten something. "Where are we?"

"Oh! Sorry! We're in the woods near the Roswell. We're not far from…"

"Roswell?"

"Yes." The woman suddenly appeared very uncomfortable and quickly changed the subject. "Now I need to ask you something very important." She took a deep breath. "Are you in love with Maxwell Evens?"

Tess's eyes grew as big as saucers. "I… I…. I…"

"You can't lie to me, Tessa Harding," the woman warned her. "Remember, I was you. I stood right where you're standing five years ago. I thought your thoughts and I felt your feelings. Now I must ask again, even though I already know the answer. I need you to understand it for yourself in order to do what must be done." She looked Tess right in the eye. "Are you in love with Maxwell Evens?"

Tess bit her lip and lowered her head, speaking almost too softly to be heard. "Yes."

"Maxwell's in love with you, too."

Tess slowly raised her head, her eyes wide with astonishment. "But… but… I thought he…I was sure he only thought of me as a friend and that he truly loves Liz."

"That is precisely the problem. He believes that same thing, until his memories returned and then it was too late."

"Poor Maxwell…" Tess shook her head sadly. Then a thought struck her. She looked up at the woman, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "But why tell me this? Surely it's dangerous to interfere with the past!"

"It could be even more dangerous not to." She led Tess over to a fallen log where they sat down. "You faced Rath, Lonnie and Nicholas in New York City after the summit in 2001. Shortly before this, you set Nasedo's plan into action, not intending to follow it. You convinced Alex to help you translate the book, after you were attacked by Whitaker because he was concerned for Isabel, correct?" Tess nodded.

"In the last month or so, Shawn has started to pay attention to Liz, hasn't he? I mean, pay attention to her as a girl instead of just Marie's best friend, right?"

"Yes."

"Maxwell sees this and turns to you for comfort. You assume that he has no real interest in you beyond friendship. Naturally, you're going to try to push Liz from his mind, force him to remember you. But in truth his feelings for Liz, eat you up inside. It's tearing you apart to think that he doesn't love you. Eventually you snap."

"How?"

"I'm afraid you do something very rash."

Tess's mind was racing. "What? Oh, god. I follow Nasedo's plan."

The woman nodded. "You will force Alex to translate the book. Due to the damage to his mind, Alex commits suicide. Liz will rightly blame the aliens for his death. On May 29th, Prom night, Liz and Maxwell will have a fight. Liz leaves and Maxwell will follow her only to never return. Then Kiv'ar attacks."

"Mother of God, no!" Tess moaned. Her eyes steeled with resolve. "What must I do?"

"Take Maxwell to the house you shared with Nasedo, show him with flashes the life you lived with Nasedo. Tell him about the deal Nasedo made. Move back into that house, and ask Michael to move in. Get Alex to stop translating the book. Give what Alex has translated, the book, and hand it over to Maxwell. Before the end of April ask Maxwell to prom and don't let him out of your sight. Maxwell must not be allowed to leave your sight that night." The woman grabbed Tess's shoulders tightly to emphasize her point. "Do whatever is necessary! It's our only hope!"

"But what about Liz?"

"Naturally, Liz will be hurt and angry at first, but she'll get over it. Even when Maxwell and her were together she secretly suspected that she was his second choice. In the end, she marries Shawn DeLuca." She kissed her younger self on the cheek. "The future depends on you, Tessa Harding." The woman stood up and took out a badly damaged granilith. "Are you ready?"

Tess stood before her and took a deep breath, then nodded.

"Good-bye Tessa and good luck." The woman said as the granilith glowed.

With that, the younger Tess disappeared.

'_Was I ever really so young …. so innocent?_' Tess thought to herself as she walked back toward the cottage.

She wondered if she would notice anything when and if the changes in the timeline took effect. Of course, she had studied all the major theories of time travel. She knew for a fact that time was not immutable as some theories held… Future Max had come back to change the past, proved that the past could indeed be altered. Then again, there was the theory that even the smallest changes to the timeline could have dire effects on history. She remembered the Ray Bradbury story A Sound of Thunder where even the simple act of stepping on a prehistoric butterfly had all sorts of unforeseen consequences.

'_What if Maxwell were to die? What if I were to die' _She wondered if her actions might somehow cause her to be erased from the timeline_. 'Better that than the lonely, miserable existence I've been living these last five years'_, she thought. The truth of the matter was that she had lied to her younger self. Maxwell never died on the 29th of May, 2002. In fact, he never even left the prom to go chasing after Liz. During the dance Liz had broken up with Maxwell and he had simply gone outside to sulk.

It was she who had acted rashly. Flattered by Maxwell's sudden attentions, she had allowed her hormones to get the better of her. Like a plot from a bad soap opera, she had found herself pregnant. To be fair to Maxwell, he was more than willing to "do the right thing" by her and they were going to go home. Maxwell had tried so hard to pretend he was happy, but Tess could see the pain in his eyes when he would look at Liz. Until it was reviled that Alex died because of her. She found herself sent to their home world on her own.

Tess had also let her younger self assume certain things, such as the idea that Maxwell was killed by the government and that Kiv'ar eventually conquered this world. The truth was that Maxwell had defeated him… albeit by the skin of his teeth.

In the end, Tess wouldn't even have their baby for comfort. In order to save his life she had to come back to earth, and then she turned herself over to the government. Shortly thereafter, Maxwell gave their son up for adoption. She had not spoken to Maxwell or anyone else in the group since that time. She knew that they were somewhere in the North-West hiding from the government.

Not long afterward, she escaped she remembered the accident with the granilith. She remembered meeting her older self and being sent back with the admonition to remember the date and time so that she would be able to send herself home. Slowly the idea came to her. There had been no warning about Alex the first time and she wondered if she would really be able to change what had happened. Soon it became an obsession. For weeks beforehand she had carefully rehearsed what she was going to say and tried to anticipate any questions that her younger self would ask.

And now it was done. Suddenly a thought struck her.

'_That's not what happened! That's how it happened at all! It was working! Something was definitely beginning to happen!_'

She started running back toward the cottage. She arrived at the kitchen door and paused to catch her breath. With great trepidation she pulled open the screen door and moved inside. The kitchen was the same as she had left it. The breakfast dishes were still in the sink, waiting to be loaded into the dishwasher. There was a half-empty glass of apple and Tabasco juice on the table. '_When is Maxwell going to learn to clean up after…?_'

'_Maxwell?_'

She glanced down at her left hand; there was a wedding ring on her finger. She dashed for the sitting room.

A huge grin spread across Tess's face as she looked in wide-eyed wonder at her husband and baby son. Maxwell was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Opposite him, six-month-old Zan had managed to push himself up onto all fours. It wouldn't be long before he would be crawling. At that moment he was babbling baby talk at his daddy. Maxwell, in turn, was mimicking every sound and jabbering right back at him for all he was worth, causing him to squeal with delight.

Memory after memory flooded into Tess's brain; her wedding to Maxwell, Zan's birth. Michael, Maxwell and Isabel hanging around the house with her while they attempted to translate the book. Having a small party when after they managed to translate the book. Standing out of Isabel's way as she went crazy decorating the house for Christmas. Blushing as Maxwell kissed her under the Mistletoe. Hearing Isabel shriek of surprise when Michael did the same thing to her. Planning and executing the freedom of their people on the home world. Seeing the traitors, skins and Kiv'ar removed from power and imprisoned on a remote planet.

Maria and Alex… She closed her eyes and caught her breath as a single tear trickled down her cheek. They had died when a drunken driver had smashed into Maria's car. They were coming back from a jam session at the studio. Liz leaned heavily on Shawn for comfort. Instead of Maxwell announcing Tess's pregnancy it was Liz announcing hers. It was strange how some things had changed and some hadn't.

"Did you enjoy your walk, darling?" Maxwell's voice brought her back to reality. "Wasn't it a bit cool to be out in just that?"

"No, it's nice outside," she said when her brain finally began to work again. "I've been cooped up inside with the baby all day and…"

"Perfectly understandable." Maxwell grinned. "And it did give Zan and me a chance to have a little quality father/son time."

She knelt down beside them and scooped the baby into her arms. "Whose mommy's big boy?" she cooed, determined to memorize every last detail of her son's smile. Zan had inherited his father's dark hair, but he had also inherited his mother's dazzling blue eyes.

"Just think," Tess suddenly remembered Maxwell saying the day he was born, "that someday a little girl who is going to look into these eyes one day and fall hopelessly in love. She won't even know what hit her! I almost feel sorry for her. The poor kid doesn't stand a chance."

Maxwell reached out and dabbed the tear from his wife's cheek. "Tessa? Is everything all right?"

"Everything's perfect," she sighed as she kissed her baby's cheek, and then kissed Maxwell's. "I was just thinking about how differently everything might have turned out…"

"Graduation." Maxwell's lips curled into a devilish smile, suggesting that this was a particularly delightful memory. "Up until that night I was convinced that you only thought of me as a friend. I can't say I minded terribly being proven wrong."

As the details surged into her consciousness, Tess's suddenly found herself blushing. "I wasn't sure I'd be able to convince you."

"Believe me, darling, you left no doubt in my mind. Not that I'm complaining, of course, but you never did tell me what made you decide to--" he cleared his throat, "do what you did."

"I saw the future," she told him. "In fact, I saw two futures … one with you and the other without you. I think I picked the right one."

"Premonitions? Did Liz make a believer out of you with her talk of Future Max?"

"Not exactly. I just had a little heart-to-heart talk with myself," she said with an enigmatic smile. She put her hand on the back of his neck and drew him into a surprisingly passionate kiss.

"I almost forgot!" Maxwell said when he finally got his breath back. "Michael called a little while ago; Isabel and Michael are coming to dinner on Sunday. They have some important news they would like to share. I think they're going to finally announce their engagement." He kissed her on the cheek. He slapped his forehead. "That reminds me! Kyle called too. He wants to know if he can bring what's-her-name to dinner on Sunday."

"It's Shannon," Tess heard herself correcting, "and of course he can. He's been with this one for quite a while now."

"Nearly six months. It has to be a record. You think maybe this is the one?"

"Could be. I know Jim would certainly be pleased. I think he's almost given up hope of getting any grandchildren from Kyle."

"Why don't you get Zan ready for bed?" Tess said softly into Maxwell's ear. "I have a sudden uncontrollable urge to make love to my husband."

Maxwell certainly had no complaints about their love life, but he hadn't seen that particular look in his wife's eyes since Graduation. "I didn't think you wanted to have another baby until Zan was at least out of diapers?"

"I don't," she grinned, "but that's not to say we can't get in a little practice now and again."

"Bedtime!" Maxwell cheerfully announced.

As father and son climbed the stairs to the nursery, Tess realized that her memory of the previous timeline was rapidly fading away. By morning it would be completely gone. '_Good riddance!_' She thought. '_Had she acted at all ethically_,' she wondered? '_After all, she had lied to her younger self and for completely selfish reasons_.' Then again, she thought, '_people lie to themselves all the time…and what's the harm in a "little white lie"?'_

The End


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